Page 90 - SLO Visitors Guide Summer 2024

90 SUMMER 2024 slovisitorsguide.com
Paso Robles
Baby & Toddler Clothing & Gifts
(805) 296-3833 • 815 12th Street, Paso Robles
Paso Robles Pioneer Museum
2010 Riverside Ave.
(805) 239-4556
Open:
Thursday - Sunday
1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
www.PasoRoblesPioneerMuseum.org
Vivant Fine Cheese for gourmet,
artisanal, and specialty cheeses
Vivant Fine Cheese in Paso
Robles is a gourmet cheese
tasting room and shop featur-
ing premium local and imported
handcrafted artisan cheeses paired
with the finest Central Coast wine
and beer. “We are located right in
the heart of historic Downtown
Paso Robles and easily accessed for
those wishing to take our excep-
tional cheeses along with their
wine tasting,” says owner Danika
Gordon.
Have a delicious lunch from the
menu including salads, sandwiches,
and paninis. Enjoy a delicious
cheese platter on the patio. The
Something for
every cheese lover
friendly staff offers in-house wine
and cheese pairings with local
wine.
Stop in to fill up a picnic
basket, or a cheese gift basket, or
browse the wide variety of locally-
produced items and kitchen wares
to delight gourmets and cheese
aficionados!
Vivant Fine Cheese can cater
events. Try an educational, fun,
and entertaining wine and cheese
pairing workshop led by the owner
for your next party or gathering.
Vivant is also a wholesale cheese
supplier to over 150 wineries,
restaurants, and finer stores.
Whether it's centuries-old
creamery traditions or newer bold
innovations, Vivant is well-versed
in all that is cheese.
‘In love with cheese since…
forever’
Vivant Fine Cheese has been
a Paso Robles fixture since 2006.
Gordon took her lifelong inter-
est in cheese through the Cal Poly
Dairy Science program where she
also worked in the creamery. Four
years in the creamery taught her to
make cheese, butter, ice cream, and
bottled milk. The last two of those
years focused on sales marketing,
which launched her 10-year career
as a cheese broker.
Gordon bought and sold
“truckloads of cheese” on the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and
sold cheese to large manufacturers
such as Kraft and Sargento. After
working in the cheese brokerage
industry for ten years. She decided
to open her own business in June
2006.
“The last two years before I
opened the shop, I was commuting
to Wisconsin two weeks a month
and living on the Central Coast two
weeks a month. I was ready to come
home,” says Gordon. “I saw a need
for a cheese shop in Paso Robles
to service the wineries, and Robert
Gilson, owner of Hotel Cheval,
was willing to invest in the shop to
help get me started.” At first, Vivant
Fine Cheese was a wholesale-only
business operating out of the “big
cheese truck.” The truck, equipped
with a real-time computer system
with scales, refrigeration, and hot
and cold running water, was a regu-
lar sight at local wineries. Within
a few months, the need for a retail